Meet Jack Irish: criminal lawyer, debt collector, football lover, turf watcher, trainee cabinetmaker, and the best Australian crime character we've seen in years.

When Jack receives a puzzling message from a jailed ex-client, he's too deep in misery over Fitzroy's latest loss to take much notice. Next thing Jack knows, the ex-client's dead and he's been drawn into a life-threatening investigation involving high-level corruption, dark sexual secrets, shonky property deals, and murder.

With hitmen after him, shady ex-policemen at every turn, and the body count rising, Jack needs to find out what's going on - and fast.

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Listener Opinions

by Rebecca | 2/5/2014

" A world-class crime thriller that just happens to be set in Melbourne and reads like literary fiction interspersed with instances of foul local vernacular. Grimly hilarious. "

by Annabudden | 2/4/2014

" Earthy loner of a character that was very believable. "

by Jackie Fletcher | 2/2/2014

" I'm not sure what drew me to this book, I did like the Melbourne feel to it but I often lost interest in the horse racing and the wood making and it certainly had the potential to be a little more steamy than it was. "

by Jane | 1/31/2014

" Geeze, Temple is good. I mean, this is no Broken Shore, and has all his usual 'way too many coincidences' problems. And what's with his obsession with street-kid-porn? But damn he writes a likeable protagonist. Is there anyone who wouldn't like Jack Irish? I just love the way Temple writes dialogue and describes things. I'd love to see him write some not-crime, cause really, I don't care much for crime. Anyway, read this in two days. Just couldn't stop. "

" (3.5 / 5) Melbourne noir... that was what I loved most about the book. Set around my old haunts, I felt like I was back there. Temple is very good at evoking time and place, but the mystery itself gets bogged down a little bit in the middle but once that was passed the book picked up again. Definitely moving on to book two. "

Marc | 1/20/2014

" Well written but a very obvious plot and yet another world-weary, crumpled old private eye who happens to attract the sexy woman and solve the case. Yawn. "

" Yet another cracking Temple read. I can't wait to see what the ABC and Guy Pearce do with this. I'm considering picking up the next book in the Jack Irish series straight away. Temple is definitely my favourite author. "

Libby | 1/6/2014

" This was a good read - Light but engaging. A holiday book. "

Sandi | 12/26/2013

" Temple has won all the big mystery prizes in Australia and this book was finally published in the USA last year. An excellent book filled with great Aussie characters. "

Julia | 12/3/2013

" good choice by Mike. right up my street. could hear the local twang in the dialogue and once i figured out what was happening at the races and with the youth club, i couild relax and enjoy. "

Jane | 11/22/2013

" The dry wit in the writing makes this a cut-above crime novel. And, it's even more fun for we Yanks who have gotten to wander about Melbourne, AU where this takes place. "

Mike | 11/22/2013

" Entertaining. Might possibly read others in the series if nothing else interests me more at the time. "

Rachel | 10/28/2013

" I really enjoyed this book, the writing style is different from most thrillers/crime/mystery novels I have read. Unmistakeably Australian and brilliant for it! "

Anja | 5/21/2013

" It was pretty boring to read. "

Christina | 5/16/2013

" Australian noir. Sounds good, right? So why was this so dull? Maybe it was me. "

Kealan O'ver | 2/22/2013

" Decent thriller but not as well written as his later books and the horse racing chapters are boring as hell. "

Kathy | 2/3/2013

" Meh. The racing subplot was confusing. "

Sharron | 1/22/2013

" I liked it enough to try the second in this series though not immediately. The protagonist, Jack Irish, is good but the references to horse racing and gambling were incomprehensible to me. "

Pete Kelly | 10/8/2012

" I love books with a strong sense of place and character. This has both and more. "

" Great to read a book set in contemporary Melbourne. Peter Temple writes great crime fiction, and I love the dialogue. "

HG | 8/4/2012

" The Jack Irish Trilogy (This was the first)are are entertaining read. Love that it is set in Melbourne and surrounds....one of those books I lend to people! "

John | 6/29/2012

" The first novel of a very well regarded Australian noir writer. Was decent but a bit much discussion by characters regarding exposition. Too much tell rather than show tho I will probably try another. "

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